Our Town

Total Points _______/ 40 Points

Please describe 5 characters from the list below and their importance to the play.   (2 Points each)   ___________/ 10 Points

Stage Manager, Dr. Gibbs, Joe/Jill Crowell, Howie Newsome, Mrs. Gibbs, Mrs. Webb, George Gibbs, Rebecca Gibbs, Wally Webb, Emily Webb, Professor Willard, Mr. Webb, Simon Stimson, Mrs. Soames, Constable Warren, Si Crowell, and the Baseball Players.

1. “We all know that something is eternal. And it ain’t houses and it ain’t names, and it ain’t earth, and it ain’t even the stars . . . everybody knows in their bones that something is eternal, and that something has to do with human beings. All the greatest people ever lived have been telling us that for five thousand years and yet you’d be surprised how people are always losing hold of it. There’s something way down deep that’s eternal about every human being.” The Stage Manager is an authoritative character that acts as the narrator. But he also acts as a person with god-like characteristics. This quote shows the god-like side of the Stage Manager. The Stage Manager knows not only the past, but the future as well. He tells the audience everything about everyone, except himself. Although he title suggests his role to be outside of the play, he appears to be part of the life in Grover’s Corner from time to time. The Stage Manager isn’t as simple as the other characters, and ties the play together
2. Emily Webb is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Webb and the older sister to Wally Webb. Emily begins as George’s classmate and next-door neighbor, and the progresses to fiancée, and finally wife.   Emily dies in childbirth and joins the group of the dead.   She tries to rejoin the living and realizes life is precious and short. “Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it?” Emily realizes she didn’t pay enough attention to the details when she was alive, and that no one does. Which I think is the main message of the play.

3. Professor Willard is... [continues]

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